My partner is driving down to Richmond, VA for a two-night gig this weekend as a DJ. He's getting good at that.

About to finish the second review draft of a 65-page user guide. I'm tired of writing about arcane financial software. Wish I was back in Minnesota, taking pictures of machines and writing about how they work.

Got a Powerball ticket too. What to do with $177 million? Money changes everything.

Scott, Why did you not go w/ a fixed for 3.5%? We just did a refinance and got a 15 year @ 3%. When we got a loan @ 5% in 2006 I was pleased as punch. The first house we bought in KC were during the dark Carter years and we paid 14%..Tony Soprano rates. But 3%!! I usually pay cash for cars but Toyota had a zero % last summer! Money is so fucking cheap..cheapest in my lifetime.

Chamomile grows wild and in abundance in Europe, my mother used to gather it and dry it herself. Unless you are allergic to ragweed and grasses, Chamomile tea is one of the best beverages to drink before bed with a splash of rum and honey. Guarantees sweet dreams.

Not mine. What's on yours. I'll trade you. Mine has some old white haired broad who is not too cute - a Ms. Washington? Anyway, it takes more of mine to get to the store now, and I come home with a lot less for them than just 3 years ago.

What an election! We couldn’t have done it without you. Without your tantrums, outbursts and boorish behavior we might have stayed home for this election. Without your filthy, pot smoking hemp -headed minions occupying and violating the Capitol we might have been complacent. Without your obnoxious protests, boycotts and other actions from your union playbook, we might have sat this one out.

But you couldn’t hold back. You couldn’t restrain yourselves and behave like adults. You couldn’t accept the 2010 election results. We sat and watched as you erupted in a juvenile hissy fit that embarrassed Wisconsin. The spectacle you created is what motivated us. And thanks to your ill-mannered behavior, we won. We turned out. Big time! And now we are organized and energized. Committed. “All in”. And we aren’t going away. We now have our own organizations (no dues required), an army of volunteers and the means to communicate. And countless new sources of funding, including a donor base from all 50 states. And we have “iverifythe recall” to ferret out your infiltrators in our future local elections.

Thank you University doctors for writing the phony excuses; Madison teachers for calling in sick or dragging your students to the protests without permission.

Thank you Katherine Windels for making death threats against the Governor.

The noontime capitol singers who taunted Sheboygan high school students.

Thank you WEA Trust for raping Wisconsin taxpayers.

Thank you Gwen Moore for your embarrassing minstrel show.

And thanks all of you for harassing the Walker family at their private home.

You have all been exposed.

Your tactics have been rejected.

Your bad behavior has been forever captured on You Tube.

Thank you Peter Barca and fellow Assembly members for donning your foolish orange T-shirts and screaming “shame” at legislators just doing their jobs.

Thank you Mark Miller and all 14 senators for fleeing the state and making fools of yourselves in the process. Illinois need a few more village idiots.

Thanks for showing us what democracy doesn’t look like.

And Mayor Barrett. How grateful we are that you chose one low road after another in your issue-less campaign against the Governor. This was your strike three. You are out. Take a seat on the bench and stay there. I have a hunch this was your final at-bat.

All of you helped turn Wisconsin permanently red.

Your Governor, Scott Walker, will not just complete his first term, he is all but assured as many future terms as he seeks. He will be your governor for a long, long time. Get used to it. And his national “rock star” status just might lead him to be your President some day.

Just think, it couldn’t have happened without you!

So to all of you blue fisters, thank you from the bottom of my happy, red heart.

In other news, my little sister just had a baby! 9 lbs 3 oz, and 22 in long. She's really beautiful, too, and I'm not just saying that because I'm the aunt. HUGE cheeks that I can't wait to squeeze, but I'm several states away right now so it will have to wait until the end of July. I'm super excited and telling everyone I know... and apparently also a lot of people I don't know. :) Yay!

Today I planted a garden. There is a fountain out there on the balcony, a large pot with a pump running through copper tubes with hammered petals, copper flowers, water bubbles through and splashes. The sound makes me wee. I thought a flat stone with a shallow indentation would be a good birdbath for finches but the warehouse I went to didn't have one so I got a clay saucer for a flower pot instead. It balances on the rim of the fountain pot and catches occasional splashes from the splashy copper poppies. It is tucked in a corner so I don't know yet if the birds are using it. They are coming to their little feeder tube and that thing is already 1/3 gone now, and the whole thing is pretty much a cartoonish little haven out there right now with regularly visiting birds.

I described the transformation to the girl at the garden shop and she wanted to come home with me. To see it. And that clicked with something that happened earlier that made an epiphany, like when things line up. ding. Chicks dig Disneyland balconies. This woman finished my sentence, "I'm completely transforming the balcony," she interjected, "into a haven."

Hey, one of the hawks is back in the nest with a meal. I don't know if he brought it himself or if one of the parents brought it. That would be a step up if he brought it himself. It looks like part of a rabbit.

C'mon Allie. Don't wait for us to show up in your bed. You want to be a conservative, to embrace the truth - not hide from it, to be right once in a while, to be part of those who believe in people, and what they can do as individuals. To honor your strengths and those you teach to your children because you know them to be right.

You want to jump into the big bouncy strong conservative bed. C'mon. Come to the light. We will never make you sing hey hey, ho ho anything, nor make you pretend you have learned nothing since the 60's. With us you are free to be different.

You will however be in danger of getting you car keyed or falsely accused of rape. You're lucky your plumber is conservative or he would have already filed charges.

I bring you again "Thistle" radical chanteuse from the Solidarity Singers.

PERSONAL STATEMENT written end of October, 2003

I want to be part of the revolution in commercial and personal transportation that needs to occur if we are going to stop wars for oil and stop environmental destruction. Part of our empowerment as a movement comes from making our own decisions about how we get around and how fast we go.

It is estimated that we have 25 to 35 years left of a fossil fuels based economy if we continue at our current rates of consumption. The use of fossil fuels is complex and problematic, but I will highlight a few reasons why I think we should make a collective, supportive effort to stop using them.

Here are a few reasons to stop the rampant use of fossil fuels:

1. The food we eat is grown using fossil fuels, transported to us using fossil fuels and dependent upon fossil fuels for its continued abundance. Once fossil fuels are gone, our supply will shrink and then what? Who will eat?

2. We shouldn't be burning oil in the first place because it contributes to global climate change. Plants and animals need a stable climate in order to provide us with the food we need to live. Go to www.undoit.org to learn more about what you can do to stop global warming.

3. Not only that, oil extraction causes severe damage to precious eco-systems that are not able to recover fast enough to balance out the destruction done.

4. The men in power are determined to fight an endless war to access fossil fuels until they run out. Millions of innocent lives are lost in the wars fought for oil.

[deletion]

What we really need to do is SLOW DOWN. If even half of the activists we know committed to only riding their bikes or using their bodies to get around, think about the real difference that would make in the way that we organize. We would learn so much as a movement and grow stronger together in solidarity.

What about the SOA protest coming up in Fort Benning, Georgia? Should we pile into buses from all around the country to go there to protest and demonstrate our dissent? YES! Piling into buses that burn fossil fuels is a very efficient use of resources to do the protesting to close down the school, which is necessary in to our struggle. But I also know that a lot more of us could be on our bicycles. Twenty people from a Sierra Club chapter in Canada just rode their bikes down to Mexico for the WTO protests, staying at organic farms the whole ride down. Ride on! We need to see more of that. Since we left Madison on September 11, 2003, we have not seen one other individual or group out on bikes. In fact, people look at us like we are freaks half the time and wonder where our car is stashed.

[deletion]

People give us tomatoes, apples and squash from their gardens that would just rot otherwise. The more I ride, the more I find that nature will take care of me, and that meeting people face to face creates more learning and understanding than whizzing by them in a car.

[deletion]

Let's gain our wisdom, inspiration and strength from the peasant land movements of Brazil. People there are literally occupying big agribusiness lands and refusing to go, creating sustainable farms as they do it. Create the vision! We have to.

Finally, if you have read all of this, I want to say that some activists, who are doing important work SHOULD be getting on those planes (that are gonna fly anyway) or in those cars to visit our camps to spark and support our grassroots movements. It's not about ALL of us ALL at once getting on our bikes, it's about enough of us doing it to build what we need for the transitions to come. It is exciting, challenging and expansive for me. And who knows, maybe famous people such as Michael Moore and Amy Goodman will surprise us and ride to their next speaking engagement. They can, you can, we can. Oh, and check out the music on this CD, it's good.

Republicans are knocking the stuffing out of the Democrats and it's going to continue. But far more important is the Celtics-Heat Rivalry! Go Celtics! Two years ago, I wrote this: LeBron was in another uniform, but the thought still holds!

I have been surprised to see the Boston Celtics go up 3-2 in their series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James is an extraordinary athletic talent. He's big, but can hit three-pointers, and float through the key and make nice running hops to the basket. He's an athletic miracle. So why doesn't he win a championship?

Paul Pierce on the other hand is not very athletic in spite of his huge talent. He looks terrible, and almost never makes any play that the mind retains as something beautiful in its execution. But somehow he just keeps coming.

In sports, as in life, there is something to be said for what the sports people call mental toughness. I don't know quite what this is. Paul Pierce has plenty of it, and it makes up for what LeBron James has under the moniker of natural talent. While LeBron James has whirlwind dunks, twirling dunks, incredible fade-away three-point floaters that hit all net, Pierce just keeps making pedestrian point after pedestrian point, and could care less about how he looks.

C'mon Allie. Don't wait for us to show up in your bed. You want to be a conservative, to embrace the truth - not hide from it, to be right once in a while, to be part of those who believe in people, and what they can do as individuals. To honor your strengths and those you teach to your children because you know them to be right.

You want to jump into the big bouncy strong conservative bed. C'mon. Come to the light. We will never make you sing hey hey, ho ho anything, nor make you pretend you have learned nothing since the 60's. With us you are free to be different.

You will however be in danger of getting you car keyed or falsely accused of rape. You're lucky your plumber is conservative or he would have already filed charges.

Farmer, I think I might be be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, I live in Waukesha County, hang out here with all these conservatives, a cute blue eyed one comes along and turns my head.... And lures me with his satyrist flute, pretty music... Sweet....Is it dirty, unclean, hairy beastly....sexy....no.. I mustn't...

Aw well, my peeps are back, Garage, and some guy named Farmer, Cook never left, Roche Voltaire never left, and other lefties are still here at Althouse. We live to fight another day. Perhaps we will form a Resistance movement. I'm veering back to the left, my heart will always be on the left.

It's a fundamental issue of fairness. You're asking people to work 20 percent more time for 2 percent more money. That's an 18 percent paycut. That violates everything fair labor says," said Mark Lipscomb, also a teacher.

The runt flew today---with style and purpose. It's going to be difficult to quit watching that nest. I hope there'll be another brood next year. Thanks Ann for letting us in on the camera. I've been showing it to kids for about a month now and it's been great fun. I think I'll create a little smart board lesson with the video and pictures from the hawk cam and some research prompts.

I attended a public elementary school graduation ceremony today. The graduates sang, the older kids hugged and congratulated them, the elders cheered, the little kids sometimes shouted. The kids are all right here.

I wonder if his dad will endorse Romney. That would be more of a surprise (especially to the Ronulans)... though I guess not a complete shock. It's Romney vs. Obama, after all.

I wonder what role one or the other Paul will play in the convention. Maybe we'll see Rand and not Ron? That way Paul pere can retain his renegade (kooky) libertarian cred; while Paul fils consolidates his position and influence within the GOP establishment.

I think Romney so far is playing it just right: He's not a Bush, he's not a Clinton, and he's not an Obama. Although, he's all those things to some degree, he's not identifiable with any of them in a clear way, and that has wide appeal, especially to independents. He's going for the none-of-the-above vote. That's gonna be hard to maintain as everyone tries to stick him as one or the other. You can't hide when the old questions come out and the answers have all been offered before.

bagohThe answers have been offered before, but now people are listening to them in a different way. It's an evolution to use an Obamaism. We've listened to these answers, but not in this economy, not at this threat level to our freedom, not at the end of our excuses and with the realization that we're very near losing something very valuable. At least I hope so.

That's all very true wyo, and it should be a strong position for Romney and other conservatives this time. They will have to do battle with the fear and loathing of children starving and schools closing and all that drivel. I don't think that dog hunts anymore.

What's new is the widespread understanding about the costs of public employee benefits which is where much of the stimulus disappeared. That's what people see now when they think government spending. The Walker recall was an incredible mistake for the left, with very bad timing.

Today is a little creepy. 1st) This girl (Thistle) happens to put herself out there a lot, in public and online, but few knew that until after today's widespread dissemination of this video. It's all over the right side of the blogosphere. The creepy thing is that if she was just some upset recall person who never tried to be famous, this would be shocking to wake up to today with everybody talking about you, attacking you, explaining you. It's creepy. I could see it happening to me somehow.

2nd) The Google images search results. If you Google your screen name, every picture on every post you ever commented on comes up. All the Althouse photos, all the avatars of anyone who mentioned your name, every image associated with your name in any way. Again - creepy. Everyone needs to just back up a little. You are cramping me. I feel like I suddenly live on a bus full of strangers.

Tonight I cut a disc from a lamb roast and chopped it up to bits and seasoned it so heavily that India called and said, "CHIP GODDAMNIT KNOCK IT OFF !" And I'm over here thinking, "I should have looked at caller ID"

So then Blogger totally bum raped me when I posted it. It wouldn't post. Wouldn't.

Wouldn't. Wouldn't. Wouldn't.

Then it did. The unedited version. So I had to edit it again but I had to notice it one by one because I'm dumb that way sometimes. Wanna see? I made the chips too.

My late mom's sister and brother, along with their spouses,in their 80s now, traveled by car a very long distance last weekend to attend my dad's wedding this past weekend. (Some of you may recall that my mom inexplicably was stricken by ALS [Lou Gehrig's disease] and then she died, untimely a couple of years ago.)

I am an incredibly fortunate person, to have aunts and uncles like that. So generous of spirit. You can't know what that's about and how important it is, unless and until you do. I wish for everyone here that blessing of old-school generosity of spirit. It's a tonic, and it's also a sincere and true living-out of what rock-solid, family-oriented people do in the face of whatever is dished out by life, however life plays itself out.

I am exceptionally grateful, this week, that I've never lost the ability to be in awe of how great people can be--especially given that my default mode, particularly in everyday life, is skeptical.

Way, way upthread here, Kristin in TX announced the birth of her baby niece. I missed that. Congratulations Kristin (and Kristin's sibling and his/her spouse)! I remember very clearly when my first niece was born.

Yeah, that was the interesting part. There was no hesitating at all. Nothing tentative. Just raised its wings part way and, with one beat, took off with total confidence and disappeared from view.

They will need to strength and hone flying and hunting skills. As they widened their territory each will seek to establish its own chosen territory, challenge and fight for supremacy in the territory. At some point there might be a challenge to their own parents.

Last year followed some hatched peregrines. They leg-banded the eyasses, and have over time located some up in Canada

Chip, I made the mistake of looking at your food blog last night, bad idea when one is hungry. I'm still drooling.

And cats are strange creatures, I'm cat sitting for my daughter while she's away, her cat loves when I use mint flavored mouthwash or gum, he comes right up to my lips and sniffs and sniffs until I chase him away. Love the flying cat.

@lemondog ... you are bringing back some fond memories here. The better half & I were a volunteers (other than work hours) 4+ days a week for the "Peregrine Return" project here. We spent afternoons and evenings perched on top of a couple high sky scraper buildings to observe the hack out location for 5 birds from early fledging to adept flight and migration. It was fascinating.

Our local project was more successful than we anticipated ... original plan was for 3 years of hacking out 5 birds per year locally. What occurred was the first year was enough, and we had to end the 2nd year very early on because the "resident" 3 nesting pairs of peregrines were a threat to the new guys ... who were captured and re-located to the upper peninsula in a wilderness area.

It was obvious that the establishment of Peregrine population in a city worked, but what surprised some of us was that the birds we hacked out weren't the ones who established the continuing population, except one. "Wanderer" is an apt term for the species. We still have 3 nesting pairs 25+ years later.

Inspired by Chip's early history of trying to re-make standardized and processed foods from scratch, I made marshmallows with my daughter a few weeks ago.

It was surprisingly easy, and knowing how to do this opens up a world of possibilities for personalized or flavored marshmallows. Because my daughter likes to decorate cakes, we may try to make real French fondant next.

I too enjoy the contributions on this blog, probably more so when they are from the left. Sure there are occasional firebombs, but that's from both sides, and sometimes is more interesting.

Allie Oop has a great screen name, and seems like a pretty good egg. Plus, she could be my parents' neighbor, living in Waukesha and all. And I understand what it's like to live in a city where almost no one agrees with me.

Ah ha Farmer! I'm on to you now. Being the tenderly sensitive and easily devastated guy that I am, I remember a regular lefty commenter from back a few years ago described me in that same exact way verbatim. Coincidence? I don't think so. Why the name change? Ashamed of past performance? It makes sense now. Anyway, yes good morning. Now I'm flirting with you, and I'm serious this time.

BTW, It turns out that my dad was a porn star, so I can't help the mustache. It's to honor his sacrifice. He was a giver.

bagoh20 said...Ah ha Farmer! I'm on to you now. Being the tenderly sensitive and easily devastated guy that I am, I remember a regular lefty commenter from back a few years ago described me in that same exact way verbatim. Coincidence? I don't think so. Why the name change? Ashamed of past performance? It makes sense now. Anyway, yes good morning. Now I'm flirting with you, and I'm serious this time.

I've never posted anything here under any other name. I'm also not a lefty, I'm mostly an I-Don't-Give-A-Shit-ty. Go ahead and quiz me!

1) Why do I get this funny feeling when you talk to me? It's like climbing the rope in gym class.

2) Have you ever been a fluffler?

You have a good sense of humor, bagoh!

You'd have to to walk around with that moustache!

(Joke. Your moustache is magnificent, as is the rotating waterbed in your houseboat and your collection of gold chains and various body oils. I'd never have thought owning a bar like the Regal Beagle could be so lucrative!).